Bitter Rivals
by Clintb456
Summary: this is a short story about the end of two enemys lifes.


A small cloud of dust rises from the mages foot as it claps on the bare earth. He stairs intently into the eyes of the man who so many years ago put an end to the life's of both his parents for no other reason than they were trying to keep their only child safe. It was that very day the boy promised that the man who stood in front of him now with his wicked grin and twisted teeth would die by his hand. Now 20 long years since past that horrid date in time with years of experience and the end of a many a men's story he was facing the man he would kill and in his mind all would be right again. The mage looked onward at his enemy of olden time. The man looked just as intently back at him waiting for the next move to be made. The mage had, unlike most mages, had had combat training with the sword. The man's face grew impatient as he reaches to his back to pull the sword from its place of rest and force it violently into combat. The sword was of tremendous size as long as the mage was tall and nearly as wide. The mage snarled" if that's the way you want to start this then HAVE AT IT!" with the last words the mage held his left hand out as though he where gripping a swords hilt and passes his right along as though he where drawing a sword from its sheath and has he did a loud violent cracking burst into the, until now, quite air. the man watched in awe as the mage drew a sword of solid red with black waves of energy pulsing through it as though it had its own heartbeat. "What kind of magic may that be?!" the man half shouted. "Chaos," the mage replied," the force that will put your meaningless life to an end." with the last of his words the chaos mage rushed forward at a speed the man could barley follow. The man remembered this boy surprisingly well and did not expect to see him ever again or anywhere near this level of power. The man knew this was going to be his end; he had had the feeling his life was close to its end for the last week and by now had made peace with it. In the time he had he said goodbye to the people he held dearest to him, his mother father and younger brother, and spend the most time he had with his wife of 9 years to the day. About 12 years ago the man had given up the life of an outlaw and murderess villain. And he found a small town to settle down in to live out the rest of his days. He had grown older in years, his birthday of 43 would be in the next month, but none of this matter now it was all about to come to a violent end. _If I am going out__,_ he though_, __God knows it would be with a sword in my hand trying to bring an end to a life I never wanted for myself and wouldn't even wish on an the worst of enemies__. _He was violently shaken from his daydream of times long past by the sight of the chaos mages sword being swung at his head with the unrelentless power of rage and vengeance behind it. _Unbelievable_ though the young chaos mage _**I would have though it impossible from anyone to block something that close moving that fast! **_The man was on the offensive now as he spun the huge girth of the sword around, stumbling the chaos mage for only a crucial moment. The mage, when blocked by the sword of his enemy began focusing on a spell immediately. The man swung the massive sword at the chaos mage with all his might, intending this to be the final blow of the battle. This is not to be. The sword was no more than mere inches from severing the mages body the mage was simply gone. Not even a calculable instant later was that almost demonic crackling noise again but this was from behind the man. He had two choices he could roll forward or stay where he stood and surely die. the only reason he thought this was because lastly his hip and leg had been bothering him the ached quite often now and he knew when he rolled he would pay for this. _**No other way out**_, he thought and leaped forward. As he did so the mages chaos weapon slashed the links of the chainmail armor he wore and cut clean through them. _**That would have completely destroyed me,**_ he thought. The mage's face began to twist with rage as he grew tired of this man. "NO MORE GAMES," he screamed. He traced his hand to the tip of the blade he had made of the chaos he wielded so elegantly. Once he had traced the length of the blade he crushed it between his hands and began focusing on drawing all the energy he had to bring this to an end. The same energy the blade the mage had made out of nowhere seemed to resonate from the very earth now all around him coming from the air, the ground, everywhere the same demonic looking red-black energy. _My god!_ The man thought, _**he mean to take me, himself and everyone in this town with us. "**_Run!," the man screamed to everyone whom had taken refuge in their homes, "Run he means to kill us all!" people began flooding out of the small boarded town as fast as they could. "Dammit this fight is between you and me why have to make them pay for what I have done!" the man shouted. The mage looked at him "Was never going to" he smirked. He unleashed a massive force of energy directed only to the man and the new everyone would be safe but him. The man smiled "at least they're safe" he said, "at least my wife and little boy will live." The force made contact with him and instead of tearing him apart in a violent display like he thought it would the energy shifted to a light blue in color and the man saw all the good things he had ever done in his life flash before his eyes. He turned his head to see the last thing of this earth he would, his son standing with his wife watching as he made the closing chapter in his book." I LOVE YOU BOTH!" he shouted as loud as he could out of fear the words would never make it to their ears. The mage was detracted by the words the man had screamed and looked to where they seemed to be directed. He saw a child of about 7 years of age and woman of about 30 standing close together and he heard what the man said, I love you both. These would be the words that ripped him from the life he had lived for the last 20 years, a life of vengeance. The energy clear and nothing was left of the man. Both the woman and the boy burst into tears and the woman screamed "JOHN NO!" This was the final push the mage needed he saw everything he ignored in his life that he could have had. His grandmother trying to help him through everything, a girl he had had a close relationship to, his small town all cast away for noting. He had been so blind so wrong. And now there is no fixing anything. He fell to his knees "what have I done?" he asked no one but himself. He felt the flow of the energy he harnessed to seek his revenge shift in his body. He screamed in pain and realization of everything. He burst into tears mourning everything he had thrown away. He felt the power he controlled for the biggest part of his life, the power he told what to do and when to do it consume his body like a fire. It wasn't like what he thought it would be he wasn't consumed by the power he wielded, no exactly. It was the force that destroyed everything he ever brought an end to but rather an enriched form of it. He saw his life all good and bad deeds pass before his eyes has he felt his connection to this world growing thinner then... it was gone entirely.


End file.
